LSC Computing
Available software
The group's computers all run Ubuntu Linux (version 24.04 - Noble Numbat). This is a long-term support (LTS) release of Ubuntu, with support until April 2029.
We use only LTS releases, and upgrade all LSC systems whenever a new LTS release occurs. The next upgrade, to Ubuntu 26.04, is scheduled for Autumn 2027.
Software versions
For some scientific software, we may need more up-to-date versions than are installed by default within Ubuntu Noble.
Below we list the default versions available, as well as any extra versions compiled especially for the CSC network.
More up-to-date versions are found within /lsc/opt.
| Package | Description | Default version | Other version(s) | Directory |
| gcc | C/C++/Fortran compiler | 13.2 | ||
| CUDA | NVIDIA CUDA compiler and toolkit | 12.5, 12.6 | /lsc/opt/cuda-12.5 and 12.6 | |
| Boost libraries | C++ helper libraries | 1.83 | ||
| gdb | C/C++/Fortran debugger | 15.0.50 | ||
| clang | C/C++ compiler | 18.1 | ||
| OpenMPI | MPI implementation | 4.1.6 | ||
| valgrind | Application Profiler | 3.22 | ||
| HDF libraries | HDF libraries | 1.10.10 | ||
| Doxygen | Code documentation tool | 1.9.8 | 1.11.0 and 1.12.0 | /lsc/opt/doxygen-1.11.0 and -1.12.0 |
| VisIt | Visualisation software | 3.4.1 (*) | /lsc/opt/visit | |
| ParaView | Visualisation software | 5.11.2 | ||
| R | Statistical programming environment(CRAN packages) | Not installed | ||
| TexLive | Text publishing packages | 2023 | n | |
| gnuplot | Basic plotting tool | 6.0.0 | ||
| emacs | Text editor | 29.3 | ||
| armadillo | C++ linear algebra library | 12.6.7 | ||
| CMake | Compilation tool | 3.28.3 | ||
| Python | Python interpreter | 3.12.3 | ||
| Numpy | Large array support for Python | See below | ||
| mpi4py | MPI support for Python | See below | ||
| scipy | Scientific tools for Python | See below | ||
| six | Python 2/3 compatibility layer | See below | ||
| scikit-learn | Machine Learning in Python | See below | ||
| Theano | Efficient multi-D array expressions in Python | See below |
(*) VisIt 3.4.1 can be used as a client to connect to CSD3, using the built-in Host Profile.
Software installed in /lsc/opt/modules/ is
compiled against gcc-13.2 which is the default compiler on
Ubuntu Noble.
In order to use any non-standard-versions of these packages, you need to add the appropriate directory to your PATH. For example, to use the latest version of doxygen:
export PATH=/lsc/opt/doxygen-1.11.0/bin/:$PATH
You may wish to add the preceding command to your ~/.bashrc to make it available for all new terminals.
In order to import the later versions of Python packages listed above:
export PYTHONPATH=/lsc/opt/modules/usr/local/lib/python3.12/dist-packages/:$PYTHONPATH
It may be possible to persuade a sysadmin to install other packages or later versions of those already installed. This is usually easier if the particular software is needed by many members of the group.